Skepticism

EVENTS

Dennis Markuze is being a good boy

We have an update from a Montreal newspaper on Dennis Markuze, the raging spammer who yap-yap-yapped at me and many others for over a decade. He’s free, he’s employed, he’s been ordered to abstain from participating in online discussions. That’s the good part; I also hear now and again about an occasional Mabus-like rant appearing in some obscure forum on the internet, so he might be breaking the strict wording of his orders, but at least the deluge has been dammed.

I am bothered by one thing. It sounds like his trial didn’t do him justice: he blamed everything on drug and alcohol addiction, the court agreed with him, and all of his post-trial treatment has been directed towards his addictions.

“Since the therapy team at (Freedom House) does not have the competence necessary to make a psychiatric diagnosis, it seems to us that (Markuze) absolutely needs a follow up after he leaves the centre,” Proulx wrote.

“He sometimes makes remarks that leave us perplexed.”

I’m perplexed, too. His past behaviors did not seem to be the product of being drunk — they weren’t impulsive, they were planned and obsessive. So he wasn’t actually diagnosed or treated for psychiatric problems? That’s a body of possible causes for his behavior that weren’t examined or treated in the rush to pin the blame on the simplest explanation.

I wish Mr. Markuze success in overcoming is alcohol and drug problems, and I hope he get whatever other help he need, even if the court did not order it. But most of all, I hope he is done being a problems to other people.

You can bet he’ll be back to his old behavior – because he’s insane and has had no psychiatric treatment. It looks like he’s not going to get any either, so the rest of the online community will have to suffer for it.

Well, the article doesn’t say there was only alcohol – it says there were other drugs including cocaine. Cocaine can induce paranoia and other Mabus-like symptoms, no? And certainly other drugs such as crystal meth can, as well as causing long-lasting psychological problems that persist for a long time after the drug abuse stops. So yes, he should have gotten a better psych assessment; but I don’t think anyone’s claiming this was just a result of alcohol.

Yes, but so can bipolar disorder which reports indicated he was diagnosed with.

As someone with bipolar disorder, I not sure that I can say if I was ever “paranoid,” but there have been times during a manic episode where I thought that NO ONE was going to tell me what to say, think, or do and letting me near a computer with an online connection was a mistake. This often let to several regrettable online incidents (yes, a couple here) and until I finally found a new job with health insurance I couldn’t get the mood leveling drugs I needed to help me function.*

I wish him well, but I what ‘m reading here leaves me uncertain that he’s getting the help he needs. This may not be isn’t last we’ve heard of him.

*Thanks so much Rethuglilcan/Loonytarian defenders of the free markert… you fuckers!

I’m a criminal defense attorney and I see this sort of thing most of the time. There are three things that the majority of my clients have in common with each other,1 they commit crimes, 2 they abuse drugs and/or alcohol and 3 they have mental health problems that rarely get addressed. PZ is right, it’s not the alcohol or drugs that caused this guy to do what he did—it was his mental health issues. He used drugs and alcohol to self medicate. I wouldn’t doubt that he abused the drugs and alcohol in the process. If his mental health issues aren’t addressed and he doesn’t come to grips with them, there is nothing to keep him from doing this all over again once he’s off probation.

Crip Dyke, MQ, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaidensays

If he’s being “a good boy” that vitiates any interest we have as parties to the case.

But as human beings concerned about another human being, I’m really surprised and disappointed that he didn’t get an evaluation. If it turned up negative, that’s fine, but an evaluation with appropriate follow up (nothing or tonnes, just as long as it’s appropriate to the assessment) is the minimum that I was hoping to come out of this case. He’s getting evaluation and treatment for addiction, but the lack of even an evaluation for other issues bothers me.

Now, the organization and obsession may come from a motivation naturally grown out of a sincere desire that the world is ending, yadda yadda. He’s free to believe it, but checking that the organization and obsession don’t derive from something else is a minimal step.

Sad it’s taken this course. I hope he can have a better life while allowing PZ’s, Greta’s, and others’ lives to be much, MUCH better than during his long-term cyber-stalking days.

It’s all to common for the seriously mentally ill to be treated like criminals. In fact, it’s common for the seriously mentally handicapped to be treated like criminals. Take this example from the UK:

That day in Wormwood Scrubs, I met a prisoner called Anthony. He was brought to the prison six months before, because he had been found walking around his neighbourhood naked. He was quickly diagnosed as suffering from irreparable brain damage and early-onset dementia. He is 45; he looks 65. He shuffled into the room, trailing behind him a large plastic bag full of rubbish – some screwed-up newspapers, an empty Reddy-Brek box – that he carries everywhere. He didn’t know where he was, and spoke only in slow, incoherent sentences. For a moment, he thought I was the judge who remanded him. Then he asked if I was his father.

Unfortunately, the media couldn’t care less. Mentally ill people only make good news stories on the rare occasions when one of them attacks a “normal” person.

It is not that uncommon for people with untreated bipolar disorder to self-medicate with cocaine. If he does in fact have untreated BPD and is self-medicating with coke, then getting him off drugs is not going to fix his problems. He needs the care of a psychologist or psychiatrist who can actually help him.

Now, now. We all know that attributing psychiatric problems to someone whose behavior is blatantly suggestive of them is bigoted and stigmatizing, and we’re not qualified to interpret that suggestiveness anyway.

We all know that attributing psychiatric problems to someone whose behavior is blatantly suggestive of them is bigoted and stigmatizing, and we’re not qualified to interpret that suggestiveness anyway.

Yes, but it’s also wrong not to consider the possibility of psychiatric problems if you’re discussing these matters.

Welcome to the fun, fun, world of dual-diagnosis. Once you get diagnosed with one part of a mental-health and addiction problem, the odds of you getting proper diagnosis and treatment for the other part is next to nil, unless you can afford to fund the diagnosis and treatment yourself.

Now, now. We all know that attributing psychiatric problems to someone whose behavior is blatantly suggestive of them is bigoted and stigmatizing, and we’re not qualified to interpret that suggestiveness anyway.

As PZ reported last year, Markuze was ordered by the court to undergo a 30-day psychiatric evaluation. The psychiatric report concluded “Bi-polar, compounded by alcohol and substance abuse”.

He’s lying low, not being good. He’s still ranting; calling out atheists and skeptics by name including PZ, Phil Plait, & James Randi; and morphing into multiple identities on Youtube to post stolen snippets of a documentary on Nostradamus to prove that “Nostradamus’ divine pen” has vanquished atheists. And that was all in May before he was sentenced. As soon as the Court’s attention is turned away he will likely be up to his old tricks.

Now, now. We all know that attributing psychiatric problems to someone whose behavior is blatantly suggestive of them is bigoted and stigmatizing, and we’re not qualified to interpret that suggestiveness anyway.

As PZ reported last year, Markuze was ordered by the court to undergo a 30-day psychiatric evaluation. The psychiatric report concluded “Bi-polar, compounded by alcohol and substance abuse”.

So, concerning the “less blatant example”, you can’t even begin to distinguish paranoid delusions from sub-clinical paranoia from being an asshole — until you learn to apply the rule that pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate, you can’t even know which “pattern” might be being matched.

That’s true. That’s why I put Comment by life is like a pitbull with lipstick ॐ blocked. [unkill]​[show comment] in a post so as to tell anyone who cared, and even those who didn’t care, that I had killfiled SG.

That’s true. That’s why I put Comment by life is like a pitbull with lipstick ॐ blocked. [unkill]​[show comment] in a post so as to tell anyone who cared, and even those who didn’t care, that I had killfiled SG.

Thanks. I’ve been sweating this out for days. It’s nice to finally know.

I’m certainly bothered by this as well. While I didn’t receive the level of threats that PZ and other more prominent skeptics did, I did routinely receive the mass twitter threats from Markuze and a handful of threats sent directly to me. I don’t want him punished if he is mentall ill, I want him to receive the proper diagnoses and treatment and I’m worried he isn’t getting that. He certainly also needs treatment for his drug and alcohol abuse but if there’s more than simply the addictions going on (and I’m convinced there are) then eventually he’s going to resume his harassment and threats or worse. I’d feel horrible if after all this he hurts someone or commits suicide because he didn’t receive the treatment he needs.

Audley Z Darkheart (liar and scoundrel) [blockquote]Come on Canada, I thought you guys had a better criminal justice system than your downstairs neighbors.[/blockquote]

He wasn’t tried in a federal court, but in a Quebec court, under Quebec’s form of Civil Law. Quebec does not practice Common Law, except federally (and except for family law, oddly), as in the rest of Canada. Can’t blame Canada for this one. It’s a Quebec issue.